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When you think of rap, you instantly think of the gold chains, the cars, the cameras, shiny teeth, and overly priced clothes. You don't really catch any other feeling do you? Why? Because that same concept is done multiple times by multiple artists and a hefty percentage of people are beginning to depart from that movement. Luckily for you, a rap artist with an addiction for Quentin Tarantino movies, old school horror films, and Chuck Taylors has a road of his own he paves when it comes to his style of rapping and lyrical creativity.

Dj-V was born as Darnell Asante Maiden with a brithday of Jan. 8th, 1995 in Santa Clara, CA but later on lived another portion of his life in Cincinnati, Ohio. He really doesn't claim a place as his home because of the countless amounts of times he moved around. As a kid he was always considered an outcast because he rarely had friends and stayed in his room alot doing things such as drawing, writing, and even burning action figures faces with his lamp. His fascination with music began in 4th grade when his father played a Casio keyboard creating multiple instrumentals and many other sounds. His father introduced him to artists such as George Clinton, NWA, Snoop Dogg, and his main influence, Eminem. He had a huge interest in Quentin Tarantino movies. "Pulp Fiction" was a big impact on his rap style and constructive concept building. Horror movies made a big impact on his style as well due to the fact that every character he analyzed had a past of being looked down upon and they ended up coming back with more of a vengeance and he admired that alot. His outcast persona followed him throughout his school years and even his personal life as he faced moments of self-doubt, depression, isolation, and even getting made fun of for no reason at all. His name is mixed with his childhood nickname "Dj" and a class project that was assigned to him. He had to create a quote using one letter that was given to him. The letter "V" was given to him and after a good hour of hard thinking he chose the quote "Victory Through Vengeance". That quote meant that he could only get the victory of happiness through the vengeance of his hard work combined with the mixture of ridicule he endured growing up from strangers, false friends, and even family members. Thus, the "V" in his name was born and his transition to "Dj-V" would only begin there.

After another random day of being a freshman in high school, Dj-V began to play around with a CD of instrumentals he found and began writing lyrics to one of them. 4 lines became a whole 16 bars and after reciting it a couple times, he became hooked to what he created and began getting serious. In 2013, he released project titled "Who Is Dj-V:The Mixtape" which contained 8 tracks of remix-style verses to industry instrumentals such as, "No Lie", "I Am Your Leader", and Chief Keef's "I Don't Like". Even though the project didn't gain much buzz due to his lack of self promotion knowledge. It was only the small stepping stone to what he would accomplish later on.

In 2014, Dj-V kicked off his mixtape series "MANIAC" with "MANIAC:The Mixtape" and "MANIAC 2:RESURRECTION" which came out near the end of the year. Although he released 2 more projects he still didn't get much buzz from it. After all of this he spiraled into depression but it cleared up fast after he got an offer from his friend's cousin to move to New York and broaden his music out there. Once he left Cincinnati heading to New York in 2015, he was only there for a month because of living situations. He later on moved to Orlando, Florida where his mother stayed and continued to pursue his music career.

After months of settling in and becoming established, he picked up the pieces and started production for"MANIAC 3:RESISTANCE". Surprisingly, after getting promotional help and pushing it in the right places such as blogs, special contacts, and other affiliates, the mixtape ended up getting over 100,000+ plays on soundcloud, especially with his song "RESISTANCE". This motivated him later on to create the movie-style six-track mixtape "MANIAC 4:RENEGADE" which put you in the perspective of Dj-V being found on a road by paramedics and being taken to mental hospital for examinations but he later on escapes that place after fighting his way out.

There's so much to say about this individual, so many insults, compliments, and yet either one you chose to create about him only motivates him to push through anything that you think is barrier or obstacle. He continues to make more productions and even ghostwrites for people from time to time. Either way, the young maniac is on a mission to be something more than just a generic rap artist you stick on a television screen. No, he feels as if he is a weapon against all the statistical and cliche facts they describe rap to be. Most call him weird, abnormal, creepy, different, and even bizairre. To clear up all suspense... he's perfectly fine with who he is and the story he will remain to tell with his horrifying style of rap.